Higher Education

8:28 am

Wed December 11, 2013

Study: RI Ranks High for Student Debt

A new study by the Institute for College Access and Success shows Rhode Island students carry the fifth highest debt burdens in the country. The study looked at student loans for the class of 2012. The average in Rhode Island was $31,156.

Several other New England state also ranked high on the list, including Maine and New Hampshire, which ranked second. The average student loan rate in New Hampshire was $32,698.

No New England states ranked as low-debt states, following a long-running trend of high college costs in the Northeast, but several states came in below Rhode Island. The average student loan burden in Massachusetts was $28,460. Connecticut’s was $27,816.

In New Mexico, the state with the lowest student debt, loans averaged $17,994. The number two state, California, averaged $20,269.

Bryant University in Smithfield ranked high on the list of high-debt nonprofit universities, coming in third. The category refers to schools where student debt averages between $41,500 and $49,450. Qunnipiac University in Connecticut also made that list, as did several other schools in Connecticut and Massachusetts.